1536 GMT: Syria. Is the Damascus International Airport (DAM) closed? Yesterday, some airlines announced that they would be running flights again, and the government maintains it's open - however, as far as we can tell, all the international flights to the airport were either cancelled today or were never confirmed to have landed:

"Russia and Turkey for the moment cannot find a mutual approach on the methods of how to regulate the situation in Syria. But our assessment of the situation completely coincides," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying during a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

GENEVA, Dec 3 - The United Nations said on Monday it was withdrawing "all non-essential international staff" from Syria due to the worsening security situation, and was restricting remaining staff to the capital.

Well, now I can see why everyone is having a hissy fit. This is not good . . .

Engineers working for the Assad regime in Syria have begun combining the two chemical precursors needed to weaponize sarin gas, an American official with knowledge of the situation tells Danger Room. International observers are now more worried than they’ve even been that the Damascus government could use its nerve agent stockpile to slaughter its own people.

The U.S. doesn’t know why the Syrian military made the move, which began in the middle of last week and is taking place in central Syria. Nor are they sure why the Assad government is transferring some weapons to different locations within the country, as the New York Times reported on Monday.

All that’s certain is that the arms have now been prepped to be used, should Assad order it.

“Physically, they’ve gotten to the point where the can load it up on a plane and drop it,” the official adds.

Sarin gas has two main chemical components — isopropanol, popularly known as rubbing alcohol, and methylphosphonyl difluoride. The Assad government has more than 500 metric tons of these precursors, which it ordinarily stores separately, in so-called “binary” form, in order to prevent an accidental release of nerve gas.

Last week, that changed. The Syrian military began combining some of the binaries. “They didn’t do it on the whole arsenal, just a modest quantity,” the official says. “We’re not sure what’s the intent.”

Back in July, the Assad regime publicly warned that it might use its chemical weapons to stop “external” forces from interfering in Syria’s bloody civil war. The announcement sparked a panic in the intelligence services of the U.S. and its allies, which stepped up their efforts to block shipments of precursors for those weapons from entering the country.

If I wad Assad I would go balls out and take out as many terrorists as possible because we know he'll be raped and murdered in the public square. Look what happened to quadaffi, Mubarak, our Ambassador. Did we ever find the terrorists that raped and killed out ambassador? But we can find saddam, quadaffi, and other despetes but not some guys that got upset over a video. WTF is wrong with this picture?

Well, now I can see why everyone is having a hissy fit. This is not good . . .

Engineers working for the Assad regime in Syria have begun combining the two chemical precursors needed to weaponize sarin gas, an American official with knowledge of the situation tells Danger Room. International observers are now more worried than they’ve even been that the Damascus government could use its nerve agent stockpile to slaughter its own people.

The U.S. doesn’t know why the Syrian military made the move, which began in the middle of last week and is taking place in central Syria. Nor are they sure why the Assad government is transferring some weapons to different locations within the country, as the New York Times reported on Monday.

All that’s certain is that the arms have now been prepped to be used, should Assad order it.

“Physically, they’ve gotten to the point where the can load it up on a plane and drop it,” the official adds.

Sarin gas has two main chemical components — isopropanol, popularly known as rubbing alcohol, and methylphosphonyl difluoride. The Assad government has more than 500 metric tons of these precursors, which it ordinarily stores separately, in so-called “binary” form, in order to prevent an accidental release of nerve gas.

Last week, that changed. The Syrian military began combining some of the binaries. “They didn’t do it on the whole arsenal, just a modest quantity,” the official says. “We’re not sure what’s the intent.”

Back in July, the Assad regime publicly warned that it might use its chemical weapons to stop “external” forces from interfering in Syria’s bloody civil war. The announcement sparked a panic in the intelligence services of the U.S. and its allies, which stepped up their efforts to block shipments of precursors for those weapons from entering the country.

1725 GMT: Syria. Initially, when I heard reports that the Syrian military was moving its chemical weapons (according to US intelligence sources), my response was that the military likely believed it could no longer secure them in their current locations. As the Obama administration had already defined the use or loss of chemical weapons as a "red line," Assad cannot afford to have those bases fall to the insurgents for fear that it would trigger immediate international military intervention - a real possibility. However, CNN's Barbara Starr, who reported on the situation last time chemical weapons were moved, said that all of her sources say that this time it is significantly different - and Assad may be planning to use these weapons:

Well, now I can see why everyone is having a hissy fit. This is not good . . .

Engineers working for the Assad regime in Syria have begun combining the two chemical precursors needed to weaponize sarin gas, an American official with knowledge of the situation tells Danger Room. International observers are now more worried than they’ve even been that the Damascus government could use its nerve agent stockpile to slaughter its own people.

The U.S. doesn’t know why the Syrian military made the move, which began in the middle of last week and is taking place in central Syria. Nor are they sure why the Assad government is transferring some weapons to different locations within the country, as the New York Times reported on Monday.

All that’s certain is that the arms have now been prepped to be used, should Assad order it.

“Physically, they’ve gotten to the point where the can load it up on a plane and drop it,” the official adds.

Sarin gas has two main chemical components — isopropanol, popularly known as rubbing alcohol, and methylphosphonyl difluoride. The Assad government has more than 500 metric tons of these precursors, which it ordinarily stores separately, in so-called “binary” form, in order to prevent an accidental release of nerve gas.

Last week, that changed. The Syrian military began combining some of the binaries. “They didn’t do it on the whole arsenal, just a modest quantity,” the official says. “We’re not sure what’s the intent.”

Back in July, the Assad regime publicly warned that it might use its chemical weapons to stop “external” forces from interfering in Syria’s bloody civil war. The announcement sparked a panic in the intelligence services of the U.S. and its allies, which stepped up their efforts to block shipments of precursors for those weapons from entering the country.

1856 GMT: Syria. Two signs that things may be coming to a head in Syria. First, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the US is already planning "contingency plans" if chemical weapons are used in Syria. No word on what those plans are, but "contingency plans" typically range from special forces operations or surgical airstrikes to full-scale intervention. This may seem liek a small statement, but at no other point in time has the US even recognized the possibility that a military plan was on the table.

Also, the UN is pulling all non-essential staff out of Syria:

Citing the "prevailing security situation", the organisation has also cancelled all missions to Syria from abroad and suspended its activities inside the war-ravaged country.

The announcement was made by the UN's under-secretary for safety and security, Gregory Starr, on Monday afternoon. It marks the final step before a full-scale evacuation, a move that has not been ordered at any point during Syria's steady descent into chaos over the past 20 months.

UN staff has been near the line of fire for more than a year, so what makes now so important? It could be escalating tensions between Turkey and Syria. Or it could be those "contingency plans" and "chemical weapons" which are prompting the UN to make the move.

Regardless, two unprecedented announcements like this, coming within hours of each other, don't look like a coincidence.

So I guess the Bush Administration was right when the intelligence community said that there was a convoy of chemical weapons that was shipped from Iraq to Syria.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 28998454

Regardless of the Iraqi chems story, Syria had and still has the biggest chemical arsenal in the whole ME, even before the Iraqi war, they've being socking up for decades, if they got the Iraqi ones too, then more for them.